Supreme Court won't hear appeal of student's anti-Christian lawsuit

High school history teacher James Corbett, pictured speaking at a 2010 meeting of the high IQ society Mensa, rocketed into the national spotlight when a federal judge found he violated a student's First Amendment rights by disparaging Christianity in class. An appeals court subsequently tossed out the lower court's ruling, and the appellate court ruling became final after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.TEXT BY SCOTT MARTINDALE, FILE PHOTO: KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal Tuesday from a former high school student who sued his history teacher, saying he disparaged Christianity in class in violation of the student's First Amendment rights.

The high court denied Chad Farnan's written demand for a review of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last year that exonerated Capistrano Valley High School teacher James Corbett.

"It was not at all surprising that the Supreme Court denied review," said Corbett's attorney, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Irvine's law school and a constitutional scholar. "The 9th Circuit decision was sound ... and made it clear he could not be held liable."

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the Mission Viejo case – in legal terms, denial of Farnan's petition for a writ of certiorari – puts a final lid on a legal battle that spanned more than four years and raised fundamental questions about the limits of what a public school teacher can say about religion in the classroom.

Farnan's attorneys, Jennifer Monk and Robert Tyler of the Murrieta-based Christian legal group Advocates for Faith & Freedom, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

NATIONAL HEADLINES

The Corbett case received a high-profile boost into the national spotlight in 2009, when a federal judge in Santa Ana ruled that Corbett violated his student's First Amendment rights by referring to creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense" during a fall 2007 classroom lecture.

A three-judge 9th Circuit panel in Pasadena reversed the lower court's decision in August 2011, ruling that Corbett could not have known he might be breaking the law.

"I think Dr. Corbett's victory is a really important victory for teachers," Chemerinksy said Tuesday. "Had Dr. Corbett been held liable, it could have opened the door for other teachers to be held liable. The 9th Circuit said there is no clear law that he violated. That means for any teacher, there is no clearly established law that says he can't do this."

Legal experts not connected to the case interpreted the 9th Circuit's ruling a different way, telling the Register last year that the appellate court decision side-stepped the core constitutional question of whether Corbett violated his student's First Amendment rights with his purportedly anti-Christian commentary.

"This is an example of a systemic problem in constitutional litigation," Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor who is an expert on the law of religious liberty, told the Register last year. "They can't hold the teacher liable because the law was not clearly settled. Because they can't hold him liable, the law will never become clear on what teachers can say in class."

At the time of the appellate ruling, the legal experts also said the case likely would never be accepted by the Supreme Court because the underlying constitutional issues did not appear to be a systemic problem among teachers nationwide.

Farnan took Corbett's Advanced Placement European history class in 2007 and graduated from the Mission Viejo high school in 2010.

Farnan is now a student at Pepperdine University in Malibu; Corbett remains in his teaching position at Capistrano Valley High.

ORIGINS OF THE LAWSUIT

Corbett was sued in 2007 by Farnan, then a sophomore, who alleged 22 statements Corbett made during a fall Advanced Placement European history course were disparaging to Christians.

Farnan argued in his lawsuit that Corbett violated the First Amendment's establishment clause, which has been interpreted by U.S. courts to bar government workers such as public school teachers from displaying religious hostility.

In 2009, U.S. District Court Judge James Selna in Santa Ana ruled that Corbett violated the establishment clause with his "religious, superstitious nonsense" remark about creationism. But Selna dismissed more than 20 other statements cited in a lawsuit brought by Farnan.

High school history teacher James Corbett, pictured speaking at a 2010 meeting of the high IQ society Mensa, rocketed into the national spotlight when a federal judge found he violated a student's First Amendment rights by disparaging Christianity in class. An appeals court subsequently tossed out the lower court's ruling, and the appellate court ruling became final after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. TEXT BY SCOTT MARTINDALE, FILE PHOTO: KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
UC Irvine law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky, pictured speaking during a mock trial in Irvine in 2009, served as history teacher James Corbett's attorney when Corbett appealed a federal court's ruling that Corbett violated a student's First Amendment rights. TEXT BY SCOTT MARTINDALE, FILE PHOTO: MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Capistrano Valley High teacher James Corbett listens as filmmaker Vic Losik answers questions about Losik's documentary "In God We Teach" during a January 2012 screening in Irvine. Losik's documentary features a segment chronicling Corbett's four-year legal battle with a former student who sued him, alleging he disparaged Christianity in class. TEXT BY SCOTT MARTINDALE, FILE PHOTO: ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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